I would sand the neck pocket, if you only need to remove very little. If you've got 1/8" on both sides, a flat file may be in order, but be careful not to remove material unevenly -- naturally, you'll want the neck to be as centered as can be.

5/8" - Is that the thickness of the neck with or without the fingerboard? I'd say try getting the neck to fit and see if the thickness looks OK, but that wouldn't be good if you can return it.

I'm new to putting basses together but am pretty darn mechanically inclined. I bought a body and neck that were both designed for 34" scale. Here is my issues/questions:

1 - The neck is 2 1/2" wide as is the pocket (2 1/2" wide also), so the neck won't quite fit. Should I sand the neck or the pocket or both to make it fit?

2 - The neck is 15/16ths thick where it goes into the pocket and the pocket is is 5/8" deep. Does this seem about right? Will I need to shim the neck or take some material off of the neck?

I'm sure I'll have more questions as this project goes on, but this is for starters. Here are links to the body and neck I bought (I have them here at my house now if you need me to measure more).

Click to expand...

Quad, you're fine for now as far as the pocket depth is concerned. You won't be able to tell different until you get all of your hardware together, get it assembled in a mockup and start seeing how the heights are going to align between the bridge, pups, neck and nut.

As for the pocket width - try this - get a wide emery board from your favorite females stash of such things. Trim it down and glue it to the edge of a piece of smooth wood small enough to fit in the pocket with enough room to move around. Now, use that as a small sanding block, resting it on the floor of the pocket and sliding it along the length of the sides of the pocket until you've taken just enough off. Count the strokes you put on each side and you'll make it even.

So the concencous is that going after the neck pocket on the body is the way to go (as opposed to the neck). I'll sand that the way that Hambone described.

As for the depth of pocket and thickness of the neck, I measure the thickness of the neck sticking out, above the body of my G&L 2500, and it's pretty close to this, so I think that I'll be in the ballpark. I'll keep you posted. Thanks guys!

So the concencous is that going after the neck pocket on the body is the way to go (as opposed to the neck). I'll sand that the way that Hambone described.

As for the depth of pocket and thickness of the neck, I measure the thickness of the neck sticking out, above the body of my G&L 2500, and it's pretty close to this, so I think that I'll be in the ballpark. I'll keep you posted. Thanks guys!

Click to expand...

You could also draw everything full-size, for the depth issue, in profile(on a piece of particle board, for example), to help plot out where things will go. This can often answer questions that are otherwise difficult to visualize, or that you weren't even aware of. That's been my experience, anyway.

So the concencous is that going after the neck pocket on the body is the way to go (as opposed to the neck). I'll sand that the way that Hambone described.

As for the depth of pocket and thickness of the neck, I measure the thickness of the neck sticking out, above the body of my G&L 2500, and it's pretty close to this, so I think that I'll be in the ballpark. I'll keep you posted. Thanks guys!

Click to expand...

When I talk "mockup" assembly, I'm not speaking of anything screwed down. I just set everything up in it's place, sometimes taped, and then align the neck and use a steel ruler to check a few clearances. If it's in the ballpark I'm good to proceed and let the adjusments in the pieces do the rest. When you are dealing with parts basses, you have no way of knowing what the original designers intended as depths for the pieces so you work within your experience. Of course, if you built it from scratch, you'd better know what depth the pocket should be!